Oriental Orthodox-Roman Catholic Consultation Holds Annual Meeting

June 12, 2000

WASHINGTON (June 12, 2000) -- The United States Oriental Orthodox-Roman
Catholic Theological Consultation held its annual meeting at the
Cardinal Spellman retreat house in Bronx, New York, on June 5 and 6.
Currently chaired jointly by Bishop Howard Hubbard of Albany and
Chor-Bishop John Meno of the Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch, the
Consultation has been meeting regularly since it was founded in 1978.

The 2000 meeting of the Consultation began with an analysis of the reactions that have been received to its Guidelines Concerning the Pastoral Care of Oriental Orthodox Students in Catholic Schools
that were issued one year ago. This was followed by two presentations
on inculturation: Chorbishop John Faris shared his paper on the Maronite
Catholic Church in the United States, entitled Eastern Catholics in a Western World; and Subdeacon Edip Aydin of the Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch read his paper, The Syriac Community in North America.
These papers inspired a lively discussion on the means by which small
Christian churches are able to preserve their identities in the midst of
much larger communities of different traditions, and the many common
challenges that those churches face, whether Oriental Orthodox or
Catholic. The Consultation also devoted a session to the sharing of
information about major events in the lives of the member churches. His
Eminence Metropolitan Mor Cyril Aphrem Karim reported that his Holy
Synod had decided in April to change the church's name in English from
the "Syrian" to the "Syriac" Orthodox Church of Antioch.

Rev. Daniel Findikyan of St. Nersess Armenian Seminary began the final
session with a commentary on the Consultation's 1980 agreed statement, Purpose, Scope and Method of the Dialogue Between the Oriental Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches.
This provided an
occasion for the members to take stock of the Consultation's work in
recent years, and to consider the direction it should take in the
future. It was decided to begin an in-depth study of the nature of
primacy, beginning with a study next year of the way in which bishops
are chosen in our various churches. Alongside this study the
Consultation will examine the ways in which the member churches provide
for the catechization of their young people in the hope of fostering
greater cooperation in this important area of pastoral concern.

The Consultation welcomed His Grace Bishop David of the Coptic
Archdiocese of North America as a new member; he took the place of
Bishop Suriel after he was transferred to the Coptic Diocese of
Australia in November 1999. The Oriental Orthodox-Roman Catholic
Theological Consultation is sponsored jointly by the NCCB Bishops'
Committee for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs, and the Standing
Conference of Oriental Orthodox Churches in the United States. The
Oriental Orthodox Churches represented are the Armenian Apostolic
Church, the Coptic Orthodox Church, the Syriac Orthodox Church of
Antioch, the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, and the Malankara
Syrian Orthodox Church.

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